


Brother Father

by CowmanTheMama



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bonding, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 17:19:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19233652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CowmanTheMama/pseuds/CowmanTheMama
Summary: Set during the events of Mortal Kombat (2011), Kitana comforts and sympathizes with Cyber Sub-Zero after his encounter with his brother at the graveyard.A short "drabble" about 1200+ words I wrote up at 4AM because I wanted them to bond together, please enjoy! I apologize for any grammar or consistency errors.





	Brother Father

Her ears perceived heavy metal hitting the floor. Kitana turned around to see that Sub-Zero had returned from his mission. Her face cringed at the sight of his steel body littered with scrapes and scratches. "Hey!" She heard the booming voice of Johnny Cage, his hand obnoxiously swaying to capture the attention of the returning warrior. She next heard the voice of another former Lin Kuei, "Sub-Zero," said Smoke, only to be ignored. Everyone attempted to gain his interest, but he marched on by them, silent as the night. "Sub-Zero...?" Kitana's voice was hushed and gentle, but full of concern. Like the rest, Sub-Zero walked past her as if she articulated not a word. All the defenders passed puzzled expression to each other, some shrugging. "I'll go check up on him," Kitana promptly offered. Liu Kang nodded approvingly at her.

Kitana performed tiny steps, and though Sub-Zero could register the sound of heels clacking against a concrete floor, he does not turn around to greet her. "What exactly happened at the graveyard?" Her voice was silvery, resonating of compassion. Something Sub-Zero would've never imagined from the daughter of the cruel Shao Kahn. Though his body doesn't even have a flesh throat, it felt narrow. He feared that if he spoke, he'd fall apart. Therefore, he does not deliver an answer to her.

Not receiving a response, Kitana delicately placed a hand on the machine's shoulder, manicured nails pattering against the metal produced a sharp noise. Her touch would be more comforting if he could feel it against his human skin. This robotic exoskeleton designed for killing made it difficult to identify tenderness. "... Kuai?"

"Bi-Han," he finally said.

She undoubtedly recognized the name: The original Sub-Zero. The Lin Kuei warrior who was brutally slain by a fiendish specter named Scorpion. But most importantly; Kuai's older brother. She took one step back, withdrawing her arm. "What?"

"I encountered my brother at the graveyard today.”

Pearled teeth clamped down on the bottom of her lip, her gaze leaving Kuai temporarily. She knew of his brother’s disturbing resurrection as Quan Chi’s wraith, many of the defenders did. But they chose to disclose nothing about it to Kuai. They all feared how he’d react to such unsettling knowledge. “But he’s—”

“Dead. But he was there, and he tried—he tried—”

Ultimately he turned around to face Kitana. The Edenian was unable to read the robot’s expressions, for he wasn't capable of making any. Kuai could no longer cry tears, not ever since the Lin Kuei had forced him to undergo a gruesome surgery; from man to killing machine. But even if his intense eyes could not blink, even if they couldn’t water, Kitana understood he was about to cry; Kuai’s form shook unsteadily.

“TO KILL ME—he tried to kill me!”

Not only was Kitana left speechless, but she became frozen as well, heels felt as if they were dug into the floor. She was trying to process what Kuai cried out. Why would Bi-Han attempt to murder his own brother, especially after all Kuai’s done for him? She knew that Kuai assumed the name, the colors, all to honor his brother. She recalled Kuai’s quest to avenge his brother, and how that lead to his clan finding, then transforming him into this horrific weapon. And how after all this, his brother refused to show any appreciation? An understatement; the most extreme of opposites. In a way, she could relate to him, which caused her bewilderment to turn into a fiery rage, and a gushing compassion. Such overwhelming emotions were then distracted by Kuai’s robotic voice.

"I haven’t seen him in over a year, and the first thing he said to me was that I’m undeserving of his title! That we... We weren’t even brothers—" though his quivering rambling will continue regardless, he triggered a flashback. This unintentionally caused Kitana to momentarily block everything else out.

“YOU CANNOT DO THIS!” Her shrilling vocals cried out to her father, Shao Kahn. While she cried, her body shook severely, trying to become free from his guards’ grasp. “I’M YOUR DAUGHTER!! YOU CANNOT HAVE ME EXECUTED, I—” the harsh noise of skin colliding with skin caused her and everyone else to go quiet. Her face now stung from the impact of her terrible father’s large hand. “You are not my daughter,” the emperor corrected. “I only kept you around because your mother loved you. Now that she’s no longer with us, and I have Mileena, I have no further use for you. Guards, take her away,” Shao Kahn demanded, her _sister,_ Mileena’s wicked laughter still ringing in her brain.

Her gleaming eyes widened, burning tears fell from them. The memory of her screams as the guards roughly dragged her away with grips so tight, it made her arms ache, was overmuch. Subsequently her heart sank to the pits of her stomach when she realized Kuai suffered a similar experience just now. However, Kitana was forced to abandon the dark road of memory lane when Kuai’s strangled voice had grown louder.

“CORRUPTED!! THEY CORRUPTED HIM, HE’S A WRAITH!! THAT’S WHY... THAT’S WHY HE TRIED TO KILL ME, THERE IS NO OTHER EXPLANATION!!” His voice caused her to wince. It was deafening; artificial vocal chords generated his voice to _glitch_ and spark, to become sharp and shaky. “Kuai...” The concerned frown on her beautiful, dampened face grew in size.

“THEY CORRUPTED HIM, THEY’RE CONTROLLING HIM, THAT’S—”

“Kuai!” Kitana snapped, her hands suddenly grasping his trembling wrists, trying to steady them. She locked her coffee eyes on to his mechanic face—Which she had to blink, to visualize him clearly and free from tears. Her expression was stern but for a second; it melted into a gentle one. She had to talk to him heart to heart, and make him understand. “That’s not—it’s untrue,” her plumped lips mournfully shook, voice fluctuating. “Sometimes your family doesn’t love you like you love them. Sometimes you learn the hard way that you were mistaken about them. This doesn’t involve sorcery; Bi-Han isn’t brainwashed,” she spoke from experience, and with an unbreakable certainty.

Kuai ceased all movement, he went completely silent as though his systems had shut down. Then came a low, electronic hum, followed by whimpering. Kitana released his wrists, only to bind her firm arms around his body in a loving embrace. She flinched from the cool touch. Sub-Zero was always supposed to be cold to the surface, as a man who can create and manipulate ice. Kitana never had the chance to touch him when he was still (supposedly) human. But she was once informed by his friend Smoke that he felt akin to a corpse. As of now, he felt like a car that’s been resting in a deep freezer.

He was stiff, nobody's ever given Kuai a hug in all his twenty-five years of living. And Kitana shared that inexperience. While she's had the pleasure of being hugged, it has been thousands of years—not since her beloved mother was still among the living. But it did not take long for Kuai to welcome the affectionate gesture, he collapsed in Kitana’s embrace, sturdy arms wrapped around her. His electronic sobbing broke out through the entire atmosphere, Kitana wept with him.

Worried by the sudden shouting and crying, all of Earthrealm’s defenders gathered together to find the two. Once they did, they kept their distance, debating whether or not to confront them. As Liu Kang was just about to approach the two, Raiden blocked him with a stretched out arm, insisting that Kitana and Kuai needed to be left alone together, just for a little while...


End file.
